State-owned builders should place greater focus on technological and business model innovation to accelerate the construction industry's transition to high-quality development-driven growth and expand infrastructure cooperation in markets involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, said a member of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Dai Hegen, an attendee at the ongoing two sessions as a member of the 14th National Committee of the CPPCC, said: "The construction industry, a pillar of China's national economy, is at a critical juncture of transitioning from scale expansion to high-quality development.

"Accelerating the in-depth integration of scientific and technological innovation, as well as industrial innovation, has become an inevitable choice for the construction industry to achieve high-quality development and serve major national strategies."

Strengthened breakthroughs in core technologies — such as the nation's self-developed software for the construction industry, high-performance green building materials and engineering control systems — will help central enterprises gain more opportunities to expand cooperation in overseas markets, where green transition is progressing at an even faster speed, said Dai, who is also chairman of China Railway Construction Corp.

"In addition, as Chinese enterprises' overseas development transitions from scale expansion to high-quality improvement, the nation should give fuller play to the role of building industrial clusters aligned with key BRI projects to guide enterprises to go global in clusters. This will foster a complete industrial ecosystem with robust upstream and downstream supporting linkages, and unlock greater scale effects for high-quality development."

Latest official data and policy proposals highlight the shift from scale expansion to high-quality development in overseas operations. Official data released by the Ministry of Commerce in January showed that in 2025, Chinese enterprises signed new engineering contracts worth $257.98 billion in Belt and Road partner countries, up 10.8 percent year-on-year, with completed turnover reaching $152.63 billion, an increase of 9.3 percent.

These figures accounted for 89.2 percent and 85.4 percent of China's total overseas contracting business, respectively, with central SOEs as the backbone of such cooperation.

In October, China, Tanzania and Zambia signed agreements to revitalize the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA), one of Africa's landmark transport corridors.

The project, valued at some $1.4 billion, is the result of more than 18 months of negotiations. The project will include an initial $1.1 billion investment, to be followed by $238 million in additional investment. CRCC, which originally built TAZARA between 1970 and 1976, will spearhead the revitalization.

Long Chaocan, an investment consultant with China Galaxy Securities Co Ltd, said central SOEs' innovation capacity is critical to their global competitiveness.

"Only by mastering core technologies and building innovation consortia can SOEs shift from being followers to leaders in the global market, and better adapt to the diversified needs of BRI markets," Long said.

zhuangqiange@chinadaily.com.cn